XPS 15 9500, audio jack not detecting headphones

i cant find any Waves MaxxAudio Service Application. can you show me what did you mean?

thanks for the halp.

On the machines I've worked on it is located in the Startup tab of Task Manager. If it is disabled here, switching audio devices will not function correctly. If you are missing it from this panel, I am not sure how to get it back. My understanding is that the software is bundled with the Realtek audio driver, so maybe try updating that from the XPS 15 9500 Drivers & Downloads page.

This solution worked for me.

Just got a brand new XPS 15 9510 and the external headset is only detected at boot time. If removed computer detects it was removed but but does not detect when plugged back in.

And suggestions here made no difference (re enabling and disabling startup processes).

Very surprising to have such a an obvious problem on a high end laptop.

Same problem here. Plugging your 3.5mm device into the audio jack produces no sound. Like the bloated CPU syphoning Killer software, the Audio albatross duo MaxxAudio and MaxxAudio Pro will cause fits for the user. This is a result of incompatibility between Windows 10/11 and MaxxAudio Pro. Really, it’s a problem with MaxxAudio and MaxxAudio Pro. I could never understand why these two garbage apps had to run concurrently even though they appear redundant in appearance and operation. These types of bloated add-ons do nothing but add additional CPU overhead and headaches when using/tweaking your sound experience. Comically, when disabling MaxxAudio Pro within its app, it will automatically flatten your audio to create the perception that MaxxAudio Pro provides a superior sound. The latest version of this garbage, is virtually impossible to remove in the traditional sense. However, when manually removing this garbage, and reinstalling the Realtek driver, your sound will return to normal. MaxxAudio and MaxxAudio Pro is useless to me because I do not need a synthesized head-tracking experience. If you play with the MaxxAudio and MaxxAudio Pro settings, i.e., equalizer, etc., you will run into a wall of static that I was only able to fix through reinstalling the Realtek driver. Unable to completely remove both MaxxAudio and MaxxAudio Pro apps, I reset my Windows 11 installation, and now, the 3.5mm jack operates normally.  

This issue on my Dell has been resolved by installing Maxx Audio pro from Microsoft Store. 

I was having this same issue with my XPS 9570.  After you reinstall the new Realtek HD Audio Driver from the Dell website (remember it takes TWO restarts - one restart to uninstall the current driver, then another to install the new driver), make sure you Enable the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application via Task Manager (or via the Settings app):

  1.  Open Task Manager

  2.  Navigate to the "Startup" tab

  3.  Scroll down to "Waves MaxxAudio Service Application" - right-click on it and then select "Enable"

  4.  Restart your computer and it should work now.

You can also do this via the Settings app:

  1.  Open "Settings"

  2.  Click on "Apps", then navigate to "Startup" on the left-side panel

  3.  Find "Waves MaxxAudio Service Application" and move the slider to "On"

  4.  Restart your computer and it should work now.

Cheers.

Described solution does not work. In my case Wave MaxAudio is installed and is on but still headet is not detected?????

For me, removing the intel smart sound audio controller driver fixed this problem permanently. 

To remove the driver: 
1. Go to "System devices". You can use the "Window + X" shortcut and then click "device manager". 

2. Navigate to "system devices". 

3. Right-click the "intel SST audio controller device" (please note, it might not have this exact same name on your system) and select "Uninstall device". Remember to check/select the options "Attempt to remove the driver for this device". Make sure nothing is playing (or using sound. 

4. Click Uninstall. 

I hope this works for you also. 

I installed MaxxAudio Pro and set it to startup but still wasn't able to dynamically switch back and for between headphones and speaker output.  What worked for me finally was clicking the little gear icon for settings in MaxxAudio I unchecked the "show pop-up dialog when device is connected" and then replugged the headphones.  My theory is that windows or other software was preventing the popup and that stopped the operation from completing.  Not sure if it will work repeatedly but I wanted to share.

Bless you! been driving me nuts forever, forcing me to restart.. this works!!

@AdrianG001​ 

I have to enable Realtek HD Audio Universal Service as well before it worked for me

Thanks